


love in the afternoon

by extasiswings



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Father's Day, Fluff, In This House We Love And Support Eddie Diaz, Introspection, Love Confessions, M/M, Prompt Fill, Soft Eddie Diaz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings
Summary: Eddie puts himself second.  But Buck…Buck puts Eddie first.  And Eddie doesn’t know what to do with that.
Relationships: Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 621





	love in the afternoon

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr for a prompt that asked for fluff and Eddie being showered with affection.

Eddie puts himself second. Or, at least usually. Sometimes he puts himself third. Or fourth. Whatever is needed.

The point is, he is not his first priority. He doesn’t think it’s a bad thing or a character flaw, it’s just…fact.

Christopher comes first. Always. What Eddie needs doesn’t really matter because he’s messed up before—he isn’t going to make those mistakes again.

(That was how he felt with Shannon—Christopher wanted his mom in his life, according to Carla, Christopher needed both of his parents, and Eddie—

All the hurt, all the confusion, all the broken trust, he set it aside and tried to make it work. Because his mother’s voice was in his head, _Don’t drag him down with you_ , because it was irrelevant that he wasn’t sure if he still loved Shannon or if he thought he could again.

Christopher mattered more.)

But Buck…Buck puts Eddie first. And Eddie doesn’t know what to do with that. Doesn’t know what to say, how to feel, how to express how much it means. And how afraid he is of losing that.

He had forgotten what it feels like to be wanted. Not just as an object of desire, but as a man. As a partner.

It’s overwhelming. 

He’s in love.

* * *

Eddie wakes up late. When he glances at the clock, it throws him—did he sleep through his alarm? Why didn’t Christopher wake him up for their morning routine? Is everything okay? Is he sick? What—

“Careful, buddy,” Eddie hears from the other side of the door. “We don’t want to drop anything, remember?”

Eddie swings his legs over the side of the bed as the door opens.

“No!” Buck says when he sees him. “No getting up, that’s not the plan.”

Eddie raises an eyebrow as he slowly lays back down again. There’s a tray in Buck’s hands, and Christopher is holding silverware and a card.

“I didn’t realize there _was_ a plan,” he replies. Christopher clambers up onto the bed and settles in at his side—Eddie wraps an arm around his shoulder without thinking about it.

“Buck says we’re having breakfast in bed today!”

“Oh, are we?” Eddie asks, glancing up at his boyfriend.

“Yeah _dad_ ,” Buck teases, setting the tray down on the nightstand and climbing in on Christopher’s other side. “We are.”

Eddie’s not sure what his face does, but Buck laughs.

“You don’t know what day it is, do you?” 

Eddie wracks his brain, trying to think of any important dates that he’s missed and coming up empty.

“Sunday?”

“Chris?” Buck prompts, even as he keeps his eyes on Eddie, a wide smile on his lips.

“It’s Father’s Day!” Christopher says, knocking his head against Eddie’s shoulder. He shoves the card into Eddie’s free hand and Eddie blinks.

_To the best dad ever, Happy Father’s Day! We love you, daddy!_

There’s a picture too, a messy family of three holding hands.

Eddie chokes back a wave of emotion, pressing a kiss to Christopher’s hair and hugging him close. When he glances up to meet Buck’s gaze, he fumbles to grab Buck’s hand.

“The _best_ dad,” Buck echoes quietly, and if Christopher hadn’t been between them, Eddie would have leaned over and kissed him.

“It’s a really great card, buddy,” he tells Christopher. “Thank you.”

“Can we have pancakes now?”

He laughs. “Yeah. We can have pancakes.”

The thing is…no, he didn’t remember that it was Father’s Day. It’s not a holiday Eddie ever really thinks about. Because when Christopher was a kid, he wasn’t there, when Christopher needed both of his parents, Eddie was the reason Shannon walked out—he doesn’t need to be celebrated when he’s spending every moment just making up for the past. 

But. Buck remembered. And Eddie feels…

It’s a miracle they all manage to get through breakfast without making a mess of the sheets, but they do, and when Christopher runs off to wash his hands, Eddie curls his fingers in the front of Buck’s shirt.

“You know, I couldn’t help noticing that card said something kinda interesting,” he says. 

Buck ducks his head and grins.

“Oh yeah? What was that?”

“ _We love you_?” Eddie quotes. 

They haven’t said it. He’s not very good with words himself and Buck does so much, all the little things that mean the world, that Eddie hasn’t felt like he _needed_ to hear Buck say them either, but they’re in their room, in their bed, and he wonders—

“Yeah,” Buck says quietly, his hand curling around the back of Eddie’s neck. “ _We_ do. I do. Love you.”

Eddie sways in and kisses him, keeping it soft and sweet because there’s no time to linger when your kid is going to come back any second, but he aches with how much this man means to him.

“Thank you for breakfast,” he replies when he pulls back.

_I love you, too._

“Oh, we’re not done yet,” Buck assures, sliding out of the bed and stretching as he stands. “We’ve got a full day planned. Board games. Park time. Pizza and ice cream…”

“Now that sounds like you’re angling to wear Chris out so he wants an early bedtime.”

“Well…” Buck drags his eyes over Eddie and bites his lip. “I didn’t say all my plans were family-friendly.”

Eddie laughs and pushes himself up so he can pull Buck in for another kiss.

“I like the sound of that.”


End file.
